Despite repeated assurances from concerned authorities on correcting the existing demographic imbalance in Kuwait — where expatriates account for nearly three-quarters of the population — the number of foreigners in the country continue to rise.
It is against this background, and following recent media reports of a large influx of Egyptians into the country that the Minister of Economic Affairs, Mariam Al-Aqeel was quized by lawmaker Omar Al-Tabtabaei. In a series of questions directed to the minister, Al-Tabtabaei requested information on the country-wise breakup of number of expatriates who entered the country on new work permits in the past three years, and details about their educational qualifications.
Media reports had recently alleged that around 8,000 Egyptians, many of them unqualified marginal workers, were entering Kuwait on new work visas every month. The lawmaker also asked to be provided with data on the number of expats employed in ministries and other public sector jobs over the last three years, and also the number of unemployed Kuwaitis registered with the government. The parliamentarian also sought clarification on whether the degrees of new workers were from universities recognized by Kuwait.
Latest available figures from the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) and the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI) show that there are around 2.85 million foreign workers in the country of whom nearly a quarter are domestic helpers. In addition, there are nearly 550,000 expatriates on dependent visas, mainly wives and children of the workers. This works out to a total of 3.4 million expatriates in a country with a total population of roughly 4.7million.
Director General of the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) Ahmad Al-Mousa said in response to a question last month that bringing in expat labor is subject to rules mentioned in labor law 6/2010 and its decisions. He said the authority carries out its responsibilities as per law 109/2013 which grants it the right to issue work permits based on requests from employers and according to rules that do not specify a limit on the number or nationality of workers hired.